Once were warriors

Two books illustrate the ways in which women’s lives have been diminished by generations of prejudice.

- JENNY NICHOLLS

FORGOTTEN WARRIORS: A History of Women on the Front Line, by Sarah Percy (John Murray, $39.99)

PERIOD: The Real Story of Menstruation, by Kate Clancy (Princeton University Press, $57.99 hb) 

After their country was invaded by Russia in 2014, the Ukrainian government decided to let more women into the military. A military gender-equality law in 2018 gave women the same rights as men in the army, allowing them to fight on the front line. This proved fortuitous - by the time Russia invaded again in 2022, Ukraine's armed forces were flooded with highly motivated female recruits, and today they have proportionally more women serving than nearly any other country. (Interestingly, New Zealand is on par with Ukraine - our defence forces also have comparatively high numbers of women.) But in her fascinating book, Sarah Percy suggests that in Ukraine, the reality of war in every street and field made old distinctions between male combat and female non-combat roles "useless".

Vladimir Putin seems oddly allergic to the idea of women at the front line, even resorting to forced male conscription after running short on recruits. Perhaps he thinks women aren't up to it.

Russia's president is, Percy shows, flying in the face of history. Women have been elite fighters in Russia for more than 2000 years; the "forgotten warriors" of her title range from tattooed Scythian equestrian warriors to the "Night Witches", a highly decorated Soviet Air Force unit of World War II.